Translation
by Nika77
Summary: When a hockey phenom arrives from Russia, competition on varsity heats up and Luis discovers a kindred spirit. This is the first non-school-related thing I have ever written and I am completely embarrassed, but what can I do, fanfic is my new guilty pleas
1. Default Chapter

"Only 14 hours until the plane leaves, I've made it through the entire summer without strangling anyone, I can make it another 14 hours," Luis thought as he hastily shoved his clothes in trash bags, trying to get everything packed between the chores and errands that had occupied most of his free time this summer. Even that manner of "free time" was scarce between shifts at the local grocery store, where he helped little old women who had no cars carry their meager packages of food down the street to their even littler, older, dilapidated apartment buildings. Most of these women were so obviously impoverished Luis felt guilty taking the occasional tip, usually of loose change, they sometimes offered, yet he was even more reluctant to accept the wet kisses on the cheek, they offered more frequently. When his last wrinkled shirt had been stuffed into a garbage bag, he finally heeded his mother's nagging call to dinner, making his way into the last empty seat of the nine gathered around the crowded table and bowed his head for the traditional prayer. When the food had been blessed there was a mad rush of forks into the rice bowl, followed by a vicious fight for the biggest piece of pork amongst the older children. Luis lost and settled for a smaller fatty end, contented by the fact that he would soon be eating in a cafeteria where there was plenty of food for everyone, not to mention enough elbow room to eat it without knocking over anyone's glass which at the Mendoza/Gonzalez/Perez dinner table was as ritualistic as the prayer. Tonight it was Katie, Luis's youngest cousin at 5, who unintentionally knocked over her brother Eddy's milk, spilling it all over Eddy, Nando, Luis's half brother, and Lucy, his grandmother, all of whom, despite the regularity of the event, acted as though they had been splattered with napalm rather than milk, shouting in a mix of Spanish and English and frantically rubbing at themselves with napkins. The dramatic scene caused a guilt laden Katie to burst into tears and run into the room she shared with Juana and Rose, her older sisters. Luis's mother and aunt, who comprised the remainder of their crazy, dramatic, clan continued eating as though nothing had happened. After supper they hurried off to their night jobs as waitresses at a tourist's club, leaving Luis to clean up the mess. As he cleared the dishes he happily dreamed of simpler times at Eden Hall, where he would thankfully be returning in 13 hours.

Meanwhile, in an airport terminal in Oslo, Lana sat awaiting her boarding call with equal enthusiasm to return to Minnesota. However, she was not as fortunate as Luis, who would be leaving his family at home. In the seat beside her loomed the towering presence of her cousin Vladimir. At 16, he was well over 6'5'' and two hundred pounds of muscle. Not a student of Lana's caliber, he had gotten into the American academy on a hockey scholarship when Lana brought him to the attention of the coaches at Eden Hall where she had been sent because of her outstanding achievements in science and English, as an exchange student. Although she was desperate to free her cousin from the miserable conditions of their hometown in the Urals, she was somewhat nervous about the responsibility she was undertaking. Despite his size, Vladimir was a rather passive and quiet young man, with dark hair in desperate need of a pair of scissors, preferably a pair sharper than those used previously. He did not speak more than a few bumbling phrases of English, which included "Hello, My name is Vladimir," "Where is the bathroom," "Where is Svetlana," and, of course, "Hockey," which Lana had far less trouble teaching him than any of the others. It seemed to Lana that he had been born on skates, he loved the game and he was good at it. In Russia he could have made the super league soon, but upon the advice of Lana he accompanied her to America instead. As a professional athlete in Russia at his age, Vladimir would be destined for trouble. The mafia, whose influence was diminishing, nevertheless controlled a fair amount of the Russian sporting business, then there were all the other dangers a little fame and fortune can bring a young man, especially one of Vladimir's nature. There was no doubt in Lana's mind that taking her cousin to America, where he could receive a better education, learn English, and be seen more readily by NHL scouts was in his best interest. America was safe, everyone had enough to eat, their were no orphanages overflowing with abandoned babies, and even in Minnesota the climate was more agreeable. The year Lana had spent there had been the greatest time of her life. She was not popular at the ritzy private school, in fact, her simple clothes and slight accent made her a target for ridicule, but still, she loved the classes, the books, the comfortable dorms, and the plentiful food. Now as she stood to board the next in a series of flights toward America she wished with all her might that this would be the last plane she would ever board, that she and her cousin could stay there forever.


	2. Chapter 2

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Authors note: Thank you for the advice (heaven knows I need it). I am too lazy to re-do the first chapter but I will try to make shorter paragraphs from now on, and maybe add a little originality to the story (that is a big maybe though, I'm not exactly the next Charles Dickens as you can probably tell by now, not that anyone has ever won a Pulitzer for a piece of fan fiction). Anyway, thanks for the patience, on with the story….

"Door, room, bed, dresser, shirt, pants, socks, sheets, blankets…." Lana had been drilling Vladimir on these English words for weeks since he had decided to come to Eden but unpacking provided an excellent opportunity for a refresher course. Unfortunately Vladimir was not in the mood, groggy from the flight and nervous someone would overhear the strange lesson, he mumbled the words under his breath. Lana had finally given up and began explaining his schedule to Vlad in Russian when there came a knock on the door.

"Come in" Lana shouted. She felt a little strange inviting someone into her cousin's room but he wasn't about to answer it himself. In walked a clean cut man of about 35, in a suit and tie. "Hi, I'm coach Orion." he said as he extended his hand toward Vlad. "I'll be the varsity hockey coach this year, you must be Vladimir Petrovich. It's a pleasure to meet you." Vlad shook hands timidly and gave Svetlana a pleading look.

Lana sighed, he knew how to say "nice to meet you" he should understand what was going on. Reluctantly, she translated everything Orion had said and was disappointed when Vlad merely smiled and nodded at his future coach.

"And you must be Svetlana," Orion continued in his stern, matter-of-fact manner, "It's nice to meet you as well. " Still upset with Vlad she smiled and shook his hand. "Tell him that the first day of try-outs is Wednesday, there will be a meeting for all those interested on Tuesday, and I hope he enjoys it here," Orion concluded. He then nodded to Vlad and marched out of the door to make his rounds with the other hockey players moving in.

Next door, several of the ducks were recounting their summer adventures to one another in the room Russ and Luis shared. Russ talked about all of the times he was hassled by police officer for no good reason (accidentally breaking windows with stray street-hockey pucks did not, in his mind, constitute a good reason.) Charlie claimed he had spent most of the summer "bulking up" in the gym, although despite some slight definition in his arms, he looked about the same as before. Adam was forced to explain his dark tan and light hair, bleached even lighter from the sun. He had taken a little cruise around the world he tried his best to be modest about. Perhaps the biggest change amongst the ducks was Fulton's bald head, covered as usual with a bandana. He had lost a bet, and a great deal of his pride upon returning to Eden where his teammates found it entertaining to name the lumps on his skull. "I think we should call this one Mt. Bash" Portman proclaimed pointing to a particularly large protrusion in the back. Besides this, and the fact that most of the ducks planned to be moving up to the team varsity this year, not much had changed.

When it was Luis's turn to share his summer experience he made up a story about some girl named Lorena and mentioned very little about his domestic situation, which had been dramatically altered by the death of his Uncle Jose in a factory accident. With five more people to squeeze into the apartment and five more mouths to feed, Luis would hardly describe his summer as a vacation. After finishing his BS romance piece, he added another lie about how he was supposed to call his mom as soon as he got to school. He couldn't stand to listen to anymore stories about camps and beaches and so he walked down the hall toward the pay phone.

Meanwhile, a frustrated Lana hurried out the next door to unpack her own things. It was almost ten o'clock, she had class tomorrow, and she had spent most of the afternoon trying to show Vladimir around enough so that he would be able to find her in the morning for breakfast and make it to all of his classes. Now she had to find her own room, unpack, and get ready for class. Luis's stride, fast by nature, matched hers in intensity, and the resulting collision, as both headed out their doors in opposite directions, was quite impressive.


End file.
